Attacks on the Press in 1996 - Central African Republic

Committee to Protect Journalists, Attacks on the Press in 1996 - Central African Republic, February 1997, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/47c564fda.html [accessed 31 March 2015]

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Government restrictions continue to threaten free speech in Chile, despite the return to democratic rule in 1990. A national security law enacted during Chile's military dictatorship, which imposes a maximum five-year prison sentence on anyone convicted of defaming an elected official, the military, the judiciary, or the police, remains in effect. Some people charged under this law, however, were able to muster enough public outrage to force officials to drop charges.

In October, a military court dropped sedition charges against the editor in chief of the weekly Punto Final. The charges stemmed from a 1991 front-page cartoon of army head Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Editor Manuel Cabieses told CPJ that he had received support from journalists and many other people who believed the charges were a threat to free speech. In recent years there has been "more concern and more public debate among Chileans about free speech and democracy," Cabieses said.

Journalists and news organizations in Chile continued to debate whether media companies should give preference in hiring to applicants with a degree in journalism from a Chilean University and who belong to the Colegio de Periodistas, a journalists union. The National Congress decided to remove such a requirement from the draft of a controversial press law the Congress has been considering for several years.